The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) has given around P347 million worth of indemnity to insured farmers from calamity-hit areas, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.
In a statement, the DA said the funds released by the PCIC would “help rebuild the lives and livelihoods of insured farmers and fisherfolk heavily affected by extreme weather disturbances that hit the country recently.”
PICC is a government-owned and controlled corporation created as the government’s agricultural insurance program’s implementing agency. PCIC is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture. Its principal mandate is to provide insurance protection to farmers against losses arising from natural calamities, plant diseases, and pest infestations of their palay and corn crops and other crops.
According to DA, the amount PCIC released to farmers comprises the initial payment on the P1.5 billion worth of estimated damage its clients from seven administrative regions reported.
“The balance are in various stages of processing and will be released within 10 days following the completion of required documents,” it said.
Calamity-hit farmers receive P347M in indemnity from PCIC – DA
Around 121,000 insured farmers and fisherfolk reported damage on their rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock holdings, fisheries, and other assets.
“PCIC has been attending to the needs of farmers and fisherfolk that have been impacted by various adverse geological and climate events this year,” DA said.
“These include the Taal Volcano eruption in January and the series of typhoons in the past few months, namely Pepito, Quinta, Rolly, and Ulysses, that came with either extra-ordinary wind strength or unusual volume of rain that have caused severe flooding,” it added.
Last week, the Department of Agriculture reported that the amount of damage to agriculture due to Typhoon Ulysses reached nearly P4 billion.
According to the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Operations Center’s 8 am bulletin, the total damage caused by the typhoon has climbed to P3.84 billion as of November 18. The typhoon affected 104,733 farmers and fisherfolk’s livelihood and damaged 101,904 hectares of agricultural areas with a volume of production loss at 160,873 metric tons.